a. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the remote ordering of goods and, more particularly, to a remote ordering method and system in which patrons utilize wireless hand-held devices to order menu items at large venues, such as stadiums, arenas, airports or convention centers, which have identifiable seat, gate, or booth locations, for delivery of the ordered goods to an identified location.
b. Description of Related Art
Sporting events, concerts and other large gatherings of spectators, or patrons take place in an arena, stadium, or other confined facility or venue having seating in uniquely identifiable seats, which are usually reserved or assigned. At these events, the ability of patrons to secure refreshments in the form of food and drink is limited. It is customary for hungry and thirsty patrons to await the arrival of roving vendors who intermittently traverse the aisles of the facility hawking various items of food and drink. These vendors frequently carry only a single type of food or drink. Often a wait of many minutes must be endured until a vendor appears who, hopefully but infrequently, has the item sought. Even then, the vendor may not have the correct change and considerable disruption occurs to those other patrons seated between the purchaser and the vendor. This is a very ineffective and inefficient method of ordering and delivering items of food, drink and merchandise to patrons.
The other method of obtaining food or drink is to queue up in long lines at refreshment or concession stands, which are scattered outside the main area in the hallways of the venue, where several, but not all, types of refreshments can often be purchased together at a single stand.
It is also common for venue operators to sell souvenir merchandise, such as programs, pennants, T-shirts, caps, trinkets, and CDs. These may also be occasionally purchased from the roving vendors in the facility, but, more often, must be purchased from a merchandise or concession stand elsewhere in the facility. However, it is seldom possible to purchase all of these items at a single concession stand.
As a result, a patron wishing to purchase several different types of food and drink and some items of merchandise must wait for multiple vendors and also visit multiple stands, probably missing seeing part of the event taking place in the venue. Thus, there is a need for a system whereby patrons can order items from a remote location for delivery to their seats.
Trade show exhibitors have a similar problem. They must be present in their booth to describe their products and services to the show attendees. If the exhibitor leaves the booth to get food and drink, important prospective customers may be missed. Since most exhibitors' booths are minimally staffed, many exhibitors remain captive in their booths throughout the exhibition hours with out relief of food and drink.
Even air travelers are not without the food and drink problem. Passengers with much carryon luggage or with children, or both, often avoid concession stands in airport concourses because it is difficult to deal with luggage or restless children when there are food lines and flimsy trays of food and drink to carry somewhere to eat. The plight of the hungry air traveler is further compounded by the continuing reduction of in-flight food service throughout the airline industry.
Remote ordering systems, in which items are ordered from a location remote from item supply, are known in the prior art. However, these systems do not address the problems outlined above. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,110 discloses a remote ordering system intended for use by homeowners or businesses to facilitate ordering from multiple vendors without the need to travel to the vendor. This patented system is similar to current systems of placing orders from a business office computer environment over the Internet or other telecommunications links using complex menus to obtain numerous parts from numerous possible business suppliers and vendors. This is distinctly different from the problem of a patron remotely ordering food, beverages and souvenir menu items from vendor facilities located in the same building structure for delivery to the patron's seat. Furthermore, this system is unduly complex in that it requires use of secondary data input devices, such as bar code scanners and the like to input desired product codes.
The remote order terminals described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,415,065 and 4,569,421 are intended and suited for use by the employees serving the customer/patron, rather than for use by the patron himself. For example, in its restaurant application, the patron uses a wireless paging system to summon the employee operating the remote order terminal. The order function is then carried out by the employee, but does not address the problems described above, since an intervening employee action is required.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,509 discloses a customer self-ordering system. However, this patent teaches use of a kiosk-style touch screen monitor self-ordering system for places such as fast food restaurants. This would require patrons to leave their seats, and, consequently, does not address the problems described above, since the patron must leave his seat and journey to a fixed location to order.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,208,976 discloses a customer self-ordering system. However, this patent teaches use of a table mounted touch screen monitor self-ordering system for restaurants, which proposes application in sports stadiums. While such a system is technically possible in a stadium, the installation cost of providing a monitor at each seat in a 70,000-seat stadium would be staggering, as would be the maintenance and repair costs of units damaged in such an environment. This model has been twice tried and twice failed by prominent well-funded companies in recent year, because of the poor economic value of such a system in a stadium.
There is a need for a system whereby patrons having identifiable locations, such as seats, booths or gates in a large venue can remotely order various menu items, such as food, drink, souvenir merchandise, and services from a remote order fulfillment location and have the order delivered within that venue to their identified location.
There is also a need to provide a system which includes a provision for remote automatic payment for the order, without intervention by the patron or delivery personnel, except where predicated upon acknowledgement of order delivery; this eliminates the distraction and hassle of engaging in a cash-and-change situation in the venue.
There is another need to provide a system that incorporates location checking features not required by prior art fixed-mounted and waiter-based systems to determine the level of service available for a specific location.
There is a further need to provide a system having means to separately control the availability of whole classes of items, such as alcoholic beverages, for delivery.